Hi,

Is there any difference between QFD and FDM ?

please advise

Regards,

SK

Hi Mr SK,

Happened to see your post today. Could you please tell the acronym FDM stands for what. Is it Function Deployment Management ?

Thanks & rgds.

Dear SK,

These are two different tools within Six Sigma with totally different objectives – even though they do have some similarities.

QFD (Quality Function Deployment) is a tool that is used to translate Voice of the Customer (VOC) into design requirements. It basically translates what the customers desire into specific measurable metrics with well defined targets. QFD is one of the primary tools in Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) projects.

FDM (Function Deployment Matrix) is a tool that is also called the Cause and Effect Matrix (C&E Matrix) or the XY matrix. This tool can be used to map which X’s have a big impact on the output Y (usually based on team perception). So, if you have a large number of X’s, you can use the FDM tool to narrow down the list of X’s that may be important to investigate further.

The similarity between QFD and FDM is that one of the houses of QFD (the central house) that determines which design specifications are important uses a relationship matrix that is very similar to the FDM methodology usually using a 1-3-9 scale.

QFD does a lot more than what an FDM does – for example, it can be used to evaluate competitor’s products, conflict between design requirements etc. In addition, there are second and third level QFDs which can further translate the design requirements into the next level – such as manufacturing tolerances etc.

Hope this helps,

SJ.

Thanks SJ sir for offering clarification on the matter.

Rgds.